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by onnari



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onnari/pseuds/onnari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a fact not greatly acknowledged that before there are any Lizzie Bennet Diaries or master degrees being pursued, there is Charlotte Lu and her second-hand camcorder.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [innocentsmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/innocentsmith/gifts).



> I adore Charlotte so I just want to say thank you for your prompt. I can only hope that this fic is to your liking. Wishing you happy holidays!

Charlotte had always considered herself to be reasonably competent at problem solving and handling crises, but even she occasionally encountered a situation that was immune to being immediately rectified by her best efforts. Such was the case with the three lines too many that simply refused to be cut from her resume. She was passing the half hour mark on the dilemma and contemplating taking a much needed break when, as if on cue, Maria appeared as the perfect distraction.

Maria's entry into Charlotte's bedroom was a spectacle unto itself and one Charlotte could hardly ignore. She jumped into the room in such great excitement that she tripped over her own feet and very nearly fell face first onto the floor. She recovered, looking sheepish, and then approached a little more carefully.

As welcome as the distraction might be, Charlotte thought she might as well make it look good. Her eyes narrowed, fingers hovering over her keyboard. “What's it now? I told you I’m busy working on my resume. I have to submit this thing tonight.”

“I know, I know. But I couldn't wait,” Maria said, brandishing an old shoe box. “You’ll never guess what I just found.”

“And what, exactly, is so great about a… shoe box?” Charlotte’s eyebrows slanted downward in bemusement. “Still busy here. Trying to get a job and all that. Important stuff.”

“It’s not the shoe box,” Maria said impatiently, “You have to see inside.” She crossed the distance between them in a leap, opening the box with a flourish. The contents inside took Charlotte a moment to process as Maria placed it down in Charlotte’s lap. “Amazing, right?”

Charlotte did her best to recover as she stared down at the miscellaneous body of her past work, all captured in small video tape cassettes. Maria gleefully soaked up every second of her sister's sudden incapacity for speech.

“They were in a shoe box?” is all Charlotte managed at first.

“I know, right? It took me forever to find them. How could mom or dad put all of these in a shoe box?”

“I really thought we had lost them when we moved,” Charlotte said wonderingly, picking up one tape at random. “‘Dancing in the Rain,’” Charlotte read aloud and then had to hold up a hand to her mouth to suppress a bark of laughter. “Oh my god, this is definitely the one where Lizzie stars in a wacky version of Singin’ in the Rain as Donna Lockwood. And you had to play Kathy. Do you remember that?”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Do I remember that? I was always playing her love interest because Lizzie couldn’t romance her sisters and you always wanted to be behind the camera. How many ridiculous school movies did we make where I was the popular girl-next-door?”

Charlotte considered it. “Actually… I’m pretty sure that was just one long movie that never ended. And you wanted to play the part anyway! You were always following me around back then.”

“Guilty as charged,” Maria said, laughing. “I always messed my lines up though and you would have to go back and record over the scenes you had already shot. You hated that so much.”

“Digital editing was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Charlotte said solemnly, laying a hand across her heart. “But, god, I can’t believe you found this.” She flipped through the tapes again, smiling to herself, before she paused to look up. “Wait a second. You were looking for these old VHS-C’s all along though, weren’t you?”

“Well… technically. I didn’t actually know what the tapes were called,” Maria said, biting on her bottom lip.

“I knew it!” Charlotte said, pointing an accusing finger. “I knew you were up to something when you said that you wanted to do some cleaning around the house. You haven’t wanted to clean anything since you first read Howl’s Moving Castle and went on a cleaning spree for a solid week.”

“I was up to something really good though,” Maria said defensively, stealing the box back from Charlotte and jumping onto Charlotte’s bed. “Come on, help me out. I want to find that goofy series of music videos we did. Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys. All the real classics. And I need to see our costumes again too! We used Jane's old dance outfits and Girl Scout vests, not to mention the weird clothes that Mrs. Bennet would give us. Remember those fuzzy, purple polka-dotted bathrobes?”

“Hey, good costume departments are hard to come by for kids. You know it took me forever to save up for that second-hand camcorder in the first place.”

“Well, I do remember how you used to lecture me about not taking your money and trying to buy books with it instead.”

“It was a pretty big deal, okay?” Charlotte said rather fondly. “The most important thing I ever saved up for as a kid.” She stopped speaking and registered Maria shaking her head sadly at her. Charlotte pieced it together. Her voice took on an edge. “You only looked for these to try and lecture me, didn’t you?”

“Partly,” Maria admitted.

“Okay, but you really shouldn’t-”

“I don’t get you, Charlotte,” Maria said, speaking over her. “What are you doing, only sending out job applications? Why are you so set on not applying for grad school too? You said you wanted to.”

Charlotte sighed. “If I had known everyone would quote that back at me, maybe I wouldn’t have said it. Look, it’s just not in the cards right now.”

“You’re the one who is always telling me to consider all my options and to think things through. Why won’t you just think about applying to study and TV and Film Production then?”

“Come on, do you really think I haven’t thought this through? Seriously, you’re sounding just like Lizzie. I already told you I’ve had this conversation way too many times. You don’t need to keep trying to start it with me.”

“If you’re just worried about my college tuition, then I get it, but there’s still no reason for you to not at least apply when you really want to. Things can still work out, you know.”

“How though?” Charlotte slumped forward. “More loans?”

“I get it, I really do. But you still didn’t really give a reason for why you won’t apply. It could never hurt. And the chance of getting a good job right now is so low anyway.”

Charlotte stared at the shoe box again, at the tapes clutched in Maria’s hands. “Honestly?" she said, looking Maria directly in the eye, "Because I know I’ll want to go, Maria. I know I can get in. I’m confident about that. But it feels like it would be taking the easy way out. The selfish way.”

“Maybe it’s a little selfish, but you also deserve to study what you want to.”

Charlotte threw up her hands, an exaperated smile slipping through. “You make it sound so simple.”

Maria returned a broader grin. “It’s a gift. I make things simple.” She stared down at the shoe box and pursued her mouth thoughtfully. “I guess what I’m really worried about is that you’re going to forever talk yourself out of grad school. You’ll get a boring or an okay job making some money, and you’ll never go back to school because the loans will never disappear. But if you do want to go to grad school, just know that I am the bestest younger sister you could ever ask for, and I’m totally going to support you.”

Charlotte couldn't hold back a genuine smile. “Duly noted.”

“And to be fair, I’m totally here for you during the job hunt too. So if you want any help with this resume, you can definitely ask me.”

Charlotte waved her off. “No, no, I’ve got this. Just got to cut a few lines. Nothing big.”

“Okay…” Maria said. She glanced back down at the collection of tapes. “I seriously do want to watch these though. Do you have any idea where that bigger VHS tape is? The one you put these into so you can play them in a regular VHS player?”

Charlotte frowend. “The VHS-C cassette adapter? It’s not in the box?”

“No,” Maria said. “I looked all over for it, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. I guess we’ll have to buy one?”

Charlotte paused for a moment, considering. “You know what? I’ll do you one better. I’m going to convert these old tapes and make them digital. That way we’ll never risk losing all this footage again.”

“What? You can even do something like that? Okay, maybe you don’t even need to go to grad school.”

“Don’t be too impressed,” Charlotte laughed. “You could definitely manage it too. I could show you, actually. I would appreciate some help.”

“I’m definitely the sister for the job,” Maria declared, right hand held up as if taking an oath.

“Why don’t you come back later then once I’ve finally finished this job application? I’ll show you how we can get started.”

Maria beamed. “Sounds like a plan."

Later, when it was after midnight and Charlotte was explaining the conversion process over hot chocolate, Maria happened to see a tab open on Charlotte’s laptop for the local university. She had the good sense to know not to comment. She already knew Charlotte had left it open for her.


End file.
